Jean-Luc Brunel, an accomplice of the now-dead sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, had worked with Epstein from the early 2000s to 2015. On December 16, 2020, he was arrested under accusations of being a part of Epstein's sex trafficking ring; French prosecutors charged him with the rape of a minor.

Brunel was a modeling scout and Epstein's accomplice - and how he has been found dead in a French prison reportedly by suicide, according to AFP, and was not able to be revived. 

An investigation into the causes of death has been opened and assigned to a 3rd judicial police district. 

As part of the Jeffrey Epstein probe, Brunel, who is the founder of the MC2 modeling agency that recruited Milla Jovovich and Sharon Stone, was indicted in December 2020 for acts of rape and sexual harassment. 

Brunel met Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's partner and "pimp," in the 1980s. After Brunel met Epstein through Maxwell, the latter financed Epstein's modeling agency with "up to a million dollars" in 2004.

Virginia Giuffre, who was sexually predated by Prince Andrew at 17, said Brunel sexually trafficked girls for Epstein, claiming in a 2015 written statement that Epstein bragged that he had "slept with over 1,000 of Burnel's girls."

Read more: Epstein victim Giuffre wins settlement against Prince Andrew

In 2015, Brunel sued Epstein because he and his modeling agency "lost multiple contacts and business in the modeling business as a result of Epstein’s illegal actions".

In 2019, Brunel's house in Paris was searched by French police, the year after he was intercepted by Paris airport police on the counts of rape, sexual assault, criminal conspiracy, and human trafficking.

Although court officials adopt the narrative that Epstein died by suicide, many lawyers challenge this claim. 

Read more: Epstein: "I Have No Interest in Killing Myself," New Document Reveals